The Frenchman feels his side deserved the three points as they blew up the chance to assume an early lead at the starting point of the league race.

“We deserved to win,” Carteron said in his post-match press conference.

“Ismaily created a single goalscoring chance, from which they scored their only goal. I’m pleased that our pressure eventually counted with the equaliser, but we still had a good chance to win in the first half. We will work on improve our finishing in the coming matches,” he said.

Al Ahly’s next league match is another tough assignment as they visit Al Masry who beat El Gounah 1-0 in the other match played on Thursday.

While Al Ahly’s counter attacking football yielded scoring opportunities which they however missed, Ismaily’s Algerian coach Kheireddine Madoui was shocked by his opponents’ approach to the game.

“Ahly’s strategy of sending long balls up field really surprised me," Madoui said.

"I did not expect that Ahly would play this way. We were playing very well but our defence could not cope with the pressure and we were also lucky not to concede in the first half," he concluded.

Ismaily now prepare to host Petrojet who held Zamalek to a goalless draw in their opening match.